This invention relates to beams of ionizing radiation and, more particularly, to noninterfering diagnostics for determining the performance characteristics of beams of ionizing radiation.
It is necessary to measure various characteristics of ionizing radiation beams. e.g., charged particle beam, neutral particles beam, or gamma ray beam, in order to determine overall beam performance, to determine the effects of accelerator beam line modifications (tuning) on beam performance, or the effects of changed operating parameters on beam propagation performance. etc. In one available technique, direct current or energy observations can be made with either a Faraday cup or a thermopile to measure the primary beam in the last stage of the vacuum transport and the net beam current after the beam exists the vacuum through a foil window. However, the detectors directly interact and can consume the particle beam, but provide no information on the downrange propagation through the atmosphere.
In another technique, electron voltage and voltage spread can be determined through independent magnetic sector experiments. Charged particles will be deflected at various angles by a magnetic field where the angle is a function of the particle energy and the angular spread is a measure of the energy spread. Again, the particle beam is consumed in the experiment. Propagation and dispersion properties can also be observed with open shutter photography and gated intensified photography of the beam in air. However, the photographic techniques can pick up beam instabilities and the film can introduce non-linearities in the observed characteristics.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a single diagnostic method for determining a significant number of beam parameters for beams of ionizing radiation.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a diagnostic method for beams of ionizing radiation which does not interfere with beam properties.
One other object of the present invention is to non-invasively measure the electron voltage and energy in a propagating charged particle beam by two independent analysis procedures.
In accordance with the present invention, an optical diagnostic method for beams of ionizing radiation is provided to measure the beam performance characteristics during the atmospheric propagation of the beam of ionizing radiation.